Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence — a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.

Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

Review

Review

“Mesmerizing...Angelou has a way with words that can still dazzle us, and with her mother as a subject, Angelou has a near-perfect muse and mystery woman.” Essence

Review

“True to her style, [Angelou’s] writing cuts to the chase with compression and simplicity, and there in the background is a calypso smoothness, flurries and showers of musicality between the moments of wickedness....A tightly strung, finely tuned memoir about life with her mother.” Kirkus Reviews

Review

“In this loving recollection of a complicated relationship, Angelou for the first time details the mother-daughter journey to reconciliation and unwavering connection and support....Angelou vividly portrays a spirited woman....[A] remarkable and deeply revealing chronicle of love and healing.” Booklist

Review

“Written with her customary eloquence...follows in the episodic style of Angelou’s earlier volumes of autobiography, pulling the reader along effortlessly. The lessons and the love presented here will speak to those trying to make their way in the world.” Publishers Weekly

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Book club pick for Emma Watson s Our Shared Shelf A moving memoir about the legendary author s relationship with her mother

The story of Maya Angelou s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence a presence absent during much of Angelou s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call Lady, revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them. Delving into one of her life s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights. Praise for Mom & Me & MomMom & Me & Mom is delivered with Angelou s trademark good humor and fierce optimism. If any resentments linger between these lines, if lives are partially revealed without all the bitter details exposed, well, that is part of Angelou s forgiving design. As an account of reconciliation, this little book is just revealing enough, and pretty irresistible. The Washington Post Moving . . . a remarkable portrait of two courageous souls. People The] latest, and most potent, of her serial autobiographies . . . a] tough-minded, tenderhearted addition to Angelou s spectacular canon. Elle Mesmerizing . . . Angelou has a way with words that can still dazzle us, and with her mother as a subject, Angelou has a near-perfect muse and mystery woman. Essence True to her style, Angelou s] writing cuts to the chase with compression and simplicity, and there in the background is a calypso smoothness, flurries and showers of musicality between the moments of wickedness. . . . A tightly strung, finely tuned memoir about life with her mother. Kirkus Reviews In this loving recollection of a complicated relationship, Angelou for the first time details the mother-daughter journey to reconciliation and unwavering connection and support. . . . Angelou vividly portrays a spirited woman. . . . A] remarkable and deeply revealing chronicle of love and healing. Booklist Written with her customary eloquence . . . follows in the episodic style of Angelou s earlier volumes of autobiography, pulling the reader along effortlessly. The lessons and the love presented here will speak to those trying to make their way in the world. Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Poet, writer, performer, teacher, and director Maya Angelou was raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and then moved to San Francisco. In addition to her groundbreaking autobiographies, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she has also written two cookbooks, five poetry collections, including I Shall Not Be Moved, three books of essays, including Letter to My Daughter, and six long-form poems, including “Mother” and “On the Pulse of Morning,” read at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton.